The point once held a fort originally built by the French and named
Fort Duquesne, it was later captured by the English, and renamed Fort Pitt.
The name Pittsburgh is derived from Fort
Pitt. Today all that is left of the original fort is a single
building known as "The
Block House".

In the days of the Western Colonization of the United States, Pittsburgh
was referred to as the "Gateway to the West".

In the days of the Industrial revolution Pittsburgh was referred to
as the "Steel City" due to its preponderance of Steel manufacturing plants.
The city had a reputation for being a filthy place due to the large amount
of soot in the air and pollutants in the water, mostly due to waste products
of Steel production.

Pittsburgh was at one time famous for having the very first movie house
in the United States. The Nickelodeon
Theatre on Smithfield Ave, opened in 1905.

In the late 1970's - 1980's much of the Steel production
became uneconomical (mostly due to foreign competition), and the bulk of
the Steel plants were shut down. The city began a program of environmental,
economic, and cultural revitalization, and referred to itself as the "Renaissance
city".

Today the air is clean, the rivers are blue green, and a large number
of new skyscrapers have been built in the downtown area. Pittsburgh is
becoming a center for technology boasting some great learning centers such
as Carnegie-Mellon University, The University of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne
University, among many others.

Pittsburgh has a large Polish population. This may account for
the most common reason that Polish and Galician Jews emigrated to Pittsburgh.
Major Jewish emigrations occurred after after the resumption of the Russian
Pogroms (in 1881), after WWI. (early 1920s), and after WW II.